Susan Ewart

12 minutes ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

Thank you and yes they are both hortensias but they are a slightly different variety. There are more colors available too; white and depending on the iron in the soil they can be blue as well. Mine are relatively small and mend to put in a container, the bigger ones have to be planted in the garden. Because ours are in a container they have to be watered often when it isn't raining enough, and in the garden it depends on the soil, but they love water!  We give them a gift of fertilizer every month during the growing season. In the winter the blooms can look fantastic with frost or a dusting of snow. Normally you leave the blooms on the bare branches in the winter because they protect the new buds and cut them of in early spring. The blooms can be pretty big and you also can dry them and use in flower arrangements. 

Thank you Corrie, this is good information.  I'm looking for a bush that blooms to fill a spot in the yard.  I'll check to see if they can grow here.  I love Peony's too, and yesterday saw one in a garden so I think I could have one of those too.  The in-ground variety you speak of would also be good cover for the little brown birds I would presume.  My mom wouldn't even know me if she saw me gardening and growing flowers.  I couldnt resist when I was getting groceries today, they had a pretty potted dahlia variety so I bought it.  My flowers from seed are a ways away (at a few inches talll) from any photo opportunities so I bought some in-bloom plants for right now.  Just need to find a block of time to take some pictures.  

1 hour ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

I used a photo of my patio in this week's chitchat and it had my hortensias in it. I had made a couple of photos and for Week 24 I used one that is a more close up one in which the hortensias are better to see. Thanks to the constant rainy weather and low temperatures they are very lush this year. Oké that's the only plus 😢 of this weather ☔

Very pretty Corrie.  Are the pink flowers hortensias too?  They look a bit different (the flower and leaves).

8 hours ago, Ann Seeber said:

I going to Jonah's first birthday party tomorrow, so I attached his card that I made in our workshop to his gift bag. 

Love the touch with the punches in the bottom corners.  It adds a nice touch.  

9 hours ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

You maybe find your cards simple but those are in your own unique and subtle style! When I see them I know immediately it is by you even before I notice it.

So true Corrie, I love Julie's style and find it hard to do myself.  

9 hours ago, Julie Magerka said:

OK, it's kinda hard to post anything after Susan's masterpiece. She aced it!

I too have been making "cards" for some folks since they send me photos and I get all excited and want to use them in layouts. But mine are quick and simple and yet the recipients seem to appreciate them (or they're just very polite!)

One is a friend fishing in Montana; one is my great-nephew's high school grad; and the other is for a cousin's birthday coming up. I will add her name later below the flower.

Oops, I'll have to upload the fishing pic separately. I exceeded the limit.....I have been using 2400 x 3000 as canvas size and resizing down, so they become 600x750.

 

I LOVE the birthday girl one.  Your style is so awesome, the ethereal quality I love, but cant seem to replicate.  

1 hour ago, AprilDawn said:

Hello Susan, your Good Bye card is beautiful !

best wishes

Dawn.

Thank you Dawn.  I've learned so much here at the Campus from Carole and everyone.  I've come a long way, and have a long way to go.  Wish I could live till I was 150 (in my current physical good health of course 😁)

4 hours ago, Cristina said:

Susan, this is amazingly beautiful! The photo, the colors, the technique... You did it!

Thank you Cristina, that means a lot to me.

3 hours ago, Mary Solaas said:

Wow, Susan! This is absolutely stunning! I love everything about it🥰

17 minutes ago, Julie Magerka said:

You knocked this one out of the park! Beautiful!

11 minutes ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

You outdid yourself with this card! I like how the words connect with the swashes and I agree finding the right font for a project can take a lot of time and experimenting.

Thank you so much Mary, Julie and Corrie.  That means a lot to me.  You know what they say, "It takes a village..." Without all of you (my village), this and many more layouts wouldn't have happened.  I've learned so much and keep learning new things from Carol and Campus villagers.

37 minutes ago, Ann Seeber said:

Yes, and I like the way it touches and blends with the gold frame!

Thank you  Ann.  There's a few spots I didnt quite get right, but overall I am happy with it.  The photo really had a lot to do with how pretty the colors are.  

55 minutes ago, Michele said:

Absolutely stunning! That font is incredible and you did an amazing job on it.

Thank you so much Michele.  I feel like I'm walking on clouds! 

My physiotherapist is moving to the the interior of British Columbia (Kelowna, also part of the what we call the Okanagan area - home of the Ogopogo).  I have lived in that area twice in my life enjoying mountains, lakes and lots of fruit (cherries, peaches, apples, grapes) and lots of wineries...even though I don't drink wine.  This seems to be my go to e-card style of the moment.  they are quick and easy to do...well, I say "quick", deciding on the font is the hardest part and takes forever playing around with it.  You will notice the kerning on the word "Bye" is weird.  I wanted the swash of B to blend in to part of the swash on the "e".  I made masks for each, the upper and lower portions thinking I'd be using two different pictures (Lake shown is Lake Okanagan).  I like the original photo, that I found on the internet so I put a copy into each mask but I wanted it to seem like it was two different elements.  For the top portion I added two textures and some noise and used brightness/contrast to darken it a bit.  That is also the area I added my sentiment on the copy I sent to her.  

10 hours ago, kasany said:

Dream with a photo taken by Jacek and a few FractalForge-s. I've got six free ones. I love them:). It's really good plugin, Carole's template. 

This is really cool Kasany!

4 hours ago, Cassel said:

Did you know that you can change the size of those thumbnails??

if you go too big though, you see less layers.  It's a trade off.  

1 hour ago, Michele Hunold said:

No, I didn't know that! I just bought a bigger monitor. lol

me too!

4 hours ago, Julie Magerka said:

Those thumbnails in the Layers Palette are pretty small so I still like to type in a quick name for some elements that are hard to see. When I use a lot of elements, it can get very difficult to figure which is which. I use abbreviations whenever I can to save time. e.g Flr 1, flr 2, etc.

4 hours ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

Julie I think we all have our own "system" for renaming the thumbnails and like you I most of the time rename the ones that are very hard to see. Alas over time I have to rename more and more because I find them harder to see. But to me that's a small price to pay for better and quicker reference; it offers an easier workflow in the end.

I do the same for small  ones especially, or if I have a lot of layers that are similar then i"ll for sure name them, or group them and now I highlight the orig. vector (in yellow) in case I need to get to it, it's really easy to find.

6 minutes ago, AprilDawn said:

hello everyone, this is a friendship card i have made. the floral paper and leaves are from a purchased kit  a few years ago. the flower is free from chantalia design and the sentiment is a digi stamp from Power poppy....... best wishes...Dawn.

Stunning April!

3 hours ago, Julie Magerka said:

I thought about a layout and finally decided to try black & white (like text on a page, or like life without small joys). To me, books are my gateway - to learning, to pleasure, to emotions, to so many things. They have been a very large part of my life since childhood. I can't even fall asleep without reading at least a few pages.

The background stamp is from Katie Pertiet, and the flower stamp is from ET Designs. The cluster frame is Jessica Dunn.

Simply beautiful Julie.  

2 hours ago, Mary Solaas said:

Playing with masks again. This is one I made using one of the flower preset shapes and using the circle to lessen the gap in the petals. the font is AR Julian. Oh, and the heart corner shapes are from Cassel.

Beautiful Mary!  

6 hours ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

Another nice teacup! Time is a thing I once thought I had in abundance! But it is true: the older I get the lesser I have. 🫠

It seem like that to me too.  Shouldnt it be the other way around.  I used to say, sleep was wasted on the youth and now I should say, Time is wasted on the youth. All the time I wasted when I was young, I wish i could have that back.

Week 23

Are we already this far into the new year.  Where did the time go?  

I used lots of techniques that I now forget, on the background.  There was a number of Effects piled on top of one another and noise was added.  In the end the background looks a bit like fabric.  The font and outline were treated to Effects or a blend mode (I'm sorry, I cant find my notes, I think I recycled them) so it looks somewhat painted on, although might not show up with this resolution.  

Yup, it's pretty blurry looking.  If I get my act together I'll start posting on FB starting from the January classes.  Time seems to be slipping through my hands these days.

14 hours ago, Ann Seeber said:

Hate to tell you but I forgot a zero on that number of books. It should have been 900. I've corrected it now. Thank goodness the "cloud" is roomy! 😉

Wowzers Ann!  Good thing the cloud is roomy like you say.  I still want to visit this "cloud" someday.  My hubby is a voracious Sci-Fi/Fantasy reader, he has about that much, but it's physical books.  

50 minutes ago, AprilDawn said:

had trouble uploading images... trying again

 

Wow Dawn!  These are amazing!

3 hours ago, AprilDawn said:

Hello everyone, it has been a long time since i was here in the campus. I have had some very challenging health issues that have been hard to cope with and was not making any cards. however the last couple of months I have had the urge to try and make them again so have been having a play in PSP once again. i will post some later.... I just want to say that i have been looking at what you all have been doing and you all have done beautiful creations...... Best wishes to everyone.... Dawn.

Welcome back Dawn.  I hope you have overcome your challenges.  PSP is a great stress reliever too, glad to hear your are getting back in the saddle again.  Looking forward to your posts.

1 hour ago, Sharla said:

Canada geese are very common in Europe. In the UK they were introduced hundreds of years ago and you can find them in most places where there is inland water like ponds and lakes. In the winter the numbers increase as some migrate here but even without them we have many thousands. To us they are a common sight - its other types of geese that are interesting!

I do love Canada Geese, but seeing different ones is a real treat.  Only usually see other ones at game farms or zoos.  

19 minutes ago, Ann Seeber said:

I forgot to post this while waiting for the Campus to stop having a nervous breakdown! j/k

My Chippy is quite photogenic. Now he wants to come in a play with the cats. (I don't think so; Eve would dispatch him handily 😞 ) 

OMG! this is precious!  So sweet.